OHIO

Josh and I had the opportunity to go to Ohio for youth leaders. We were very lucky to get out of New Jersey. Our flight was at 6, we didn't take off until 7 which meant we were cutting it very close to catch out connecting flight. when we got out of the plain we asked if we could make it and the guys said if we hurried. Of course our terminal was not right down the hall. It was down the steps, down the hall, on the tram, through the crazy mystical tunnel, up the steps and then down in the middle of the terminal. When we got there we found that not only did we make it on time, our pilot wasn't even their yet. so we sat down and coughed for 30 min while we waited.
Once we got to Ohio, everything was awesome. The sessions were exactly what we needed. Josh is doing so much, in life, in work, in ministry, and in our marriage (in no particular order). Being at that place made us feel like we are not alone. We are not the only onces that are struggling. We are not the only onces that feel burnt out, or discouraged in ministry. All those people there have been through these things, and with the grace of God they have done it. And it doesn't matter if there are 5 kids or 500 in the youth group, everyone has their struggles but we all have the triumphs in the Lord.
I wish I could show all of you how awesome it was, but I could not find the camera when we got their. It wasn't until we were packing that I found the camera. So with a few hours left in Ohio we took some photos.

this is the hotel that we stayed at. It was nice because it was directly connected to the conference center.

This is Josh and Matt (a friend of ours from PBU) this is us walking to the "mall". This is where we found....the second best bourbon chicken

Oh it was good. One day Josh and I had a very full schedules but we were very hungry. Josh had to get stuff from the room and I was in charge of the food. so yes I found the awesomeness!

dinner of niceness

On Saturday the teens hosted a dinner at church called the "dinner of niceness". The teens planned most of it. We were all dressed in white shirts, black pants, and pink ties. It was so great to see so many people from the church come out and support our teens. Some of the teens gave a short testimony about whats been going on in their lives and I think people were able to see that huge things are going on in this youth group. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the youth events that impact the church> like Josh said in his devo... Our missions trip starts right here in NJ.

Half the fun was getting the gym decorated. The lights took a long time. We had a super long ladder with one kid at the top and about five people at the bottom to hold the ladder. After all was said and done I think it looked awesome!

we did have some honorary guests. Avery being happy.... all the time!

My Beautiful parents...

The lovely Ange and Andrew. Thank you guys for coming up and supporting me and josh as well as the teens.

Of course no youth event would be complete without hugo!

smarter then your average bulldog

Hugo is getting really big, he's going to the vet tomorrow to get vaccines, so he might be down for the count for a little bit, but other then that he's been really active. He's learning how to "come" and "sit" by hand signals, which is pretty amazing. The only problem still is getting him to only go to bathroom outside. With time that will come. Well hope you enjoy. ok bye.

my dog is awesome!

This is our awesome dog! He has gotten so big, so fast it's hard to believe. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like wen we have a baby. Right now he is our baby.

His training is going very well. He used to not like to walk. It would be a fight most of the way and then he would sprint as soon as he sees the door. Now he sits before we walk out the door and walks by our side the entire time. And now he'll take long walks. We have a huge pond behind our house (a photo to follow) and he likes to walk around it.

Josh is doing a really good job with him. He is very assertive with his commands. Hugo knows that he is the pack leader. I do my part as well. He knows that he goes to the bathroom outside. But if he gets mad at me he will pee inside. that doesn't make me to happy.

Oh man he loves to sleep. He got really sick last week so i finally broke down and bought him a bed. He LOVES IT! He will go get in his crate just so he can sleep in his bed. One day (far from now) he will be housebroken and will be able to have the entire kitchen when we are not home. For now this will have to do.

As soon as i get a good video i'll show you how funny he is when we walks and runs. Until then I hope these pictures tide you over until you can meet him for the first time or for the 500th time!